"We had a layup": Nuggets attempt to explain end-of-game disaster vs. Wizards

The Nuggets should have gotten a layup on their final possession of the fourth quarter Thursday and forced overtime. Michael Malone, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. all agreed that the outcome of Denver’s botched end-of-game sequence against the Washington Wizards should have been an easy lay-in at the rim.

But the Nuggets got the opposite of an uncontested layup. On a 3-on-1 fastbreak with the game on the line, the ball somehow found Facu Campazzo on the wing. Campazzo was open and is shooting 37.6% from three-point range this season but is just 19-63 (30.2%) on non-corner threes.

After Campazzo’s three barely grazed the rim, Monte Morris put his hands on his knees. Porter appeared to tap his chest and motion that it was his fault. Murray covered his face. Thirty minutes later, Denver’s point guard first said he should have shot a three on the play, and then took the blame for the cringe-worthy chain of events that followed. He also asserted that Porter should have cut to the rim.

“I just should have shot it. I just should have shot it,” Murray said. “It’s a 4 -on-1. We’ve got to score.”

“We’re playing basketball. 4-on-1. Somebody should go to the rim. I thought Mike was going to the rim. He might have thought I was shooting it. I should have shot it. I gave Facu a bad pass. I gave him a really bad pass. And I didn’t know the clock either. That’s why I put it on me. If I’m going to stop at the three, I’ve got to shoot it. And if Mike’s running the lane, he’s got to go to the rim, especially when there’s other guys behind him.”

There’s poor execution, and then there’s what the Nuggets managed to do Thursday night with the game on the line. This play was a disaster. It’s basic, elementary basketball. It’s a 3-on-1 fastbreak. Ten times out of 10, Denver’s final possessions should have ended in a layup or dunk with no defender within 20-feet.

Inside the Nuggets’ locker room postgame, Malone relayed a similar message. He said Denver should have been going for a layup and not a three. That was the opposite of what Porter and Campazzo were thinking in real-time when they ran to the three-point line.

“We had a layup. That’s a 3-on-1 break,” Malone said. “All Michael Porter’s got to do is cut to the basket. All Jamal Murray has to do is push the ball and attack. But we didn’t get that. We got a Facu three. And obviously, it didn’t go in. Wasted opportunity there.”

Murray’s postgame tweet that showed just how open the court was for a potential cutter rubbed even more salt on the wound. When Murray stopped his dribble, it looked like he made eye contact with Porter.

Porter agreed that after reviewing the play, a layup was the optimal outcome. He also noted that in transition, he’s been taught to run to the corner for a three-pointer when he’s the first player down the floor. Obviously, those rules are amended for end-of-game scenarios where a wide-open layup extends the game.

Potentially winning the game with a three and avoiding overtime was also on Porter’s mind as the play unfolded.

“I looked at the play afterwards. One of us could have easily cut. Obviously, I could have cut and got a dunk,” Porter said. “But we were just thinking one of us is going to get a three. And if the shot goes in no one’s talking about it. If Facu makes that shot everybody’s applauding. (Bradley) Beal took Jamal and there should definitely have been a cut to the rim. But at the beginning, we all were just thinking, get behind the three-point line. Let’s win and go home.”

“Definitely looking back should have taken a layup for sure.”

It’s impossible to assign blame to just one party. If Murray didn’t hesitate he could have shot the open three. Porter or Campazzo should have cut to the basket. Campazzo also had time to pass the ball to Porter in the corner instead of taking the potential game-winner.

Nikola Jokic, who was trailing the play after batting the rebound from Raul Neto’s missed layup out to Murray, said he was fine with the look the Nuggets got.

“It’s an open three. So if he made it everybody would celebrate,” Jokic said. “Now, yes, go for a layup. But if Facu made it, probably you would go, ‘Oh that’s a great shot.’ I think it’s a good shot. Maybe we could go for a layup, yes. Why not. But we didn’t, so we had an open three.”

After the dust settled, it’s another loss. Another bad loss. Washington had been playing well and already beat the Blazers and Clippers on its current West Coast road trip. But this still was a middling, 11-18 Wizards team without Davis Bertans, who scored 35 points to lead Washington to a win over Denver last week. The list of the non-playoff teams that the Nuggets have already lost to this season grew longer Thursday and includes Washington (twice), Sacramento (thrice) and Atlanta.

This loss will surely sting more than the others.

“It’s just a tough play where we didn’t know what we were doing,” Murray said. “We’ve just got to score.”